Too Rude

Last week I did a post featuring The Rolling Stones at very close to their lowest point. Undercover was very close to being the worst thing they’ve ever done, but their actual nadir came in 1986 with Dirty Work, an album with very few redeeming …

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight

When critics of the old-school persuasion talk about once-great bands who turned into sellouts, they usually use Genesis as an example. In the 70’s, under Peter Gabriel’s leadership, Genesis were one of England’s wonkiest art-rock bands, who were highly acclaimed but didn’t sell very many …

Tonight and Forever

All this song needed to put it on the charts was a gratuitous sax solo and an underpaid gospel singer on the chorus. I’ve listened to enough 80’s soft-rock radio to know the formula. Eddie Money could have gone quadruple-platinum with this tune, if someone …

To Be a Lover

I love how Billy Idol has spent his entire career just being the designated prettyboy on the scene and appears to have no interest in being taken seriously. He is, of course, very good at what he does, and for that he is well respected. …

Time of Weakness

A couple of years ago I developed a mini obsession with The Triffids’ album Born Sandy Devotional, and you all heard a lot about it. Mostly I was really bent about the fact that I had lived my entire life without being aware of something …

Thorn in My Side

Annie Lennox and her boxy suits are a delectable vibe – and a time capsule from 1986, obviously. Not that 1986 didn’t have enough weird glamour, but Annie Lennox really added her own bouquet garni to the soup, so to speak. It’s peak synthpop too, …

That’s Really Super, Supergirl

In our toxic culture, we’ve lost sight of how fun a good snarky diss song can be. Feeling rejected? Write a snarky diss track to make fun of them. An ode to the one who not only got away, but crushed you on their way …

That Was Your Mother

Paul Simon’s Graceland stirred up a lot of controversy for such a universally beloved album. Accusations of cultural appropriation and plagiarism and general political incorrectness, et cetera. But those conversations have a way of falling to the wayside. What remains is a record that’s as …

Tender is the Night (the Long Fidelity)

Okay, I realize that I said “check out this new band I discovered” and I played you this song by The Triffids, you’d be bewildered and wonder why. Why indeed is an album by an obscure alternative rock band from Australia whom I hadn’t even …

Tell It To Your Heart

Lou Reed has written some of my favorite love songs, and this is definitely one of them. Lou really makes something as mundane as “looking out across the Jersey Shore” sound like a romantic moment akin to frolicking in a rose garden. But with more …